My sole mode of personal transportation is my bicycle. I've never driven a car and I'm quite proud of it.
This blog is my place to rant and rave about cycling issues as I see them.

This is not a place for critics of integrated cycling - that conversation is over - segregation has no future - studies show it is not a safe or useful strategy, nor is it a healthy philosophy.

Sunday, 13 January 2013

Great Movie Cycling Scenes: The Wicker Man

Nicolas Cage steals a bike at gunpoint in The Wicker Man.

A classic of truly awful cinema, the Wicker Man was written and directed by noted misogynist Neil LaBute. It is a train wreck of a film, with a script that makes absolutely no sense, but well worth watching for its unintentionally funny scenes - especially if you have a fridge full of beer. The movie launched the internet meme 'Not the Bees'.

I saw it when it first came out because I'd always been a fan of the original 1973 version (not the greatest film - interesting idea but poorly paced) and I wanted to see if the update could do better. It couldn't. Sadly, the people who made this stinker have gone on to make more bad movies, though none quite so bad as this. LaBute still has his fingers in the Hollywood pie, though we should perhaps be thankful that, since The Wicker Man, he hasn't been allowed to direct or script a full-length movie.

After the bike theft, Nicolas Cage's character gets into a pretty sticky situation involving lashings of honey, a bear suit, woad-painted women, broken legs, bees and human sacrifice involving barbequed bike thief. If only real life cyclists got to enjoy similar vengeance on their persecutors.

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About Me

I'm from Sheffield, Yorkshire. I lived my first 22 years in England. Between 1984 and 1986, I cycled 10,000 miles throughout Western Europe. I met my American wife in Austria in 1988 and moved to the USA in 1989. I've worked as a shop assistant, a draughtsman, an artist, a bartender, a picture framer, a writer and a genealogical researcher. My daughter and I are probably "The Silver Spring Cyclists" - the only people in town who commute on the bike every day through fair weather or foul: rain, snow, hot or cold. No matter what, we're out on our bikes.

Quotes on Cycling and Society

"When a cow follows the herd, it ends up at a slaughterhouse. When cyclists use bike facilities, they end up at an intersection, often with the same unhappy result as the cow. Use the road - it's safer!" - me again.

"Vehicular cycling techniques have not been tried and found difficult. They have been presumed difficult and not tried." - P.M. Summer, paraphrasing G.K. Chesterton

"If American bicycle advocacy leaders had championed the civil rights movement, the 'Dream' would have been reserved seating in the back of the bus." - Jack R. Taylor

"The task of the 'protected' bicycle facility is to hide collision participants from each other right up to the point of impact." - John Schubert

"Position on the road is by far the most important influence that a cyclist has over his safety. Indeed, the loss of this ability to influence the actions of others is one reason why road-side cycle tracks and shared footways increase danger at junctions. Many cyclists fail to position themselves properly because of their fear of traffic, yet it is this very fear that puts them most at risk. Encouraging unsafe behaviour by directing cyclists to more hazardous positions does nobodyany favours." - John Franklin

"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so" - Mark Twain